Australian Open - A New Era

Finally , the first sport event of the year I've been waiting for has started. The Australian Open is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.

After some delay and a difficult 14 day quarantine for all players and staff, that had an impact on all of them, yesterday the tournament began. The effects of the quarantine are unknown for now, we only know that from training standpoint, many didn't have optimal conditions to keep their fitness level or at least train daily to stay ins shape. Mentally? That is another matter that will be visible during the tournament. being locked in a small room all by yourself, without much contact with the outside world, before a stressful tournament is not exactly what these top athlete needed. Mental strength is just as important as physical strength.

Stefanos Tzitzipas vs Gilles Simon

This was the first match I got to enjoy today. Of the two players, I only knew Tzitzipas, even though Gilles Simon is an older player, I've never seen him playing and the funny thing was today that the two players have never met. Simon is 14 years older that his Greek partner, maybe that's why they had no chance to meet till today.

It's always interesting to see a new player you know nothing about, which is hard if you have a good few years as a tennis fan, but I'm quite new in this business, started watching tennis regularly a couple of years ago.

The match started out well, both players were at the top of their game, but then things changed. Tzitzipas took the lead and Simon struggled to keep up with him. Make no mistake, he did everything he could but it wasn't enough. He's at the end of his tennis career as a professional player and the age difference showed today. He got angry of the situation, expressed his frustration but that didn't help. He was defeated.

Kevin Andersen vs Matteo Berettini

This match was no different from the previous one as far as the players are regarded as I only knew one of them, the giant Kevin Andersen representing South Africa. There were an age difference between the two players, which can be an advantage or a disadvantage. However, in this case the age wasn't a factor, physical strength decided the match in my opinion.

If you look at the results, 7-6(9), 7-5, 6-3, you can see there was a fair fight for victory. I wanted Andersen to win, but knew he may not have a chance as he's been dealing with surgeries and had to withdraw from competition last year. I don't know why he lost, maybe it was due to his injuries or maybe Berettini was better, or both. Either way, it was a great match, between two quality players.

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Tomorrow

Tomorrow will be interesting too, there are a few matches to watch.

Stan Wawrinka vs Márton Fucsovics - As much as I'd like Fucsovics to win (he's Hungarian like me), I know Wawrinka is a better and more experienced player and unless something extraordinary happens, Wawrinka will win for sure.

Alexandre Müller vs Diego Schwartzman - I only know Schwartzman and he has a huge disadvantage, being way shorter than the other players, he has to put in double effort to win, so this match can go either way. I guess we'll see.

Dominic Thiem vs Dominik Koepfer - I've never seen Dominik Koepfer playing, don't know who he is, but I know the other Dominic and he's going to win for sure, no doubt about that. He's seed no. 3.

Novak Djokovic vs Frances Tiafoe - I don't think I need a prediction here, it's clear like daylight.

Nick Kyrgios vs Ugo Humbert - This match will be the highlight of the day. Ugo Humbert is a young, talented and disciplined player, with a bright future in tennis. Nick Kyrgios is everything but! He's the shame of the tennis world right now. He's been struggling with depression and he took it out on the world. He's a talented player, without any discipline, who's lost everyone's respect. The unprofessional behavior he displayed towards everyone is not something anyone should tolerate. He's disrespectful on the tennis court, on social media, everywhere. I'd love to see this game and hope I can make it happen. My prediction? I don't know, could go either way as Nick Kyrgios is unpredictable.

Maxime Cressy vs Alexander Zverev - Again, I only know Zverev and he's a good player, but pretty unstable on the tennis court. Sometimes he's good, other times he's less good, so let's see what his day is going to be like tomorrow.